The selkie from Dark Matter’s first subscription box was ideal because it was so smooth and simple. One challenge unique to nerdy chocolate design is the medium itself, Weaver says. Weaver anticipates that an upcoming fire-themed menu might feature an array of hot-pepper chocolates and a dragon or phoenix. Featured flavors included Holiday Spice (allspice, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg) Weasley (ginger and raspberry) and Toffee Toffee Toffee (toffee!). The first month’s offerings showed off the company’s custom water-themed chocolate molds in the shape of a kraken (an enormous squid-like sea monster), a selkie (a shapeshifting seal from Celtic mythology), and a hippocampus (a fish-tailed horse from Greek tradition). Subscribers to Dark Matter Chocolate’s new monthly boxes can choose from a combination of fantastical flavors and shapes, customized for preferences and allergies. The answer: nerdy chocolate subscriptions. He was excited by the opportunities chocolate presented for science and exploration-from perfecting the tempering process to get the glossiest result with the best snap from among chocolate’s six crystalline states, to addressing the engineering challenges of manufacturing custom molds. Weaver joined the company as Segall was looking to scale up production.
The company's website is replete with Harry Potter references and physics jokes. Weaver and Segall (who are joined as co-owners by Elizabeth Krueger '14 and Meghan Reedy '09) met around that time through the Assassins’ Guild, an MIT student group devoted to LARPing (live action role playing). Segall started the company more than a decade ago as a hobby, selling fantasy-themed chocolates at science fiction/fantasy conventions to hungry fans eager for a sugar fix. That includes his recent choice to take the reins as president at Dark Matter Chocolate, a sweets company for and by nerds founded by fellow chocolate-lover Segall.ĭark Matter’s nerd credentials are well established.
“We ordered it by the quarter ton.” It was an experience that left an enduring mark on Weaver’s life. We “fed people chocolate basically to make them happy,” remembers Paul Weaver ’12, for whom the lab’s activities were an MIT highlight. The 2003 brainchild of alum Ariel Segall ’04 and their classmates, the still-active student group has run events providing hot chocolate during final exams, truffle classes over January’s Independent Activities Period, lectures on chocolate science, and of course Valentine’s Day parties.
If the MIT Laboratory for Chocolate Science sounds like a nerdy student’s daydream, that’s because it is.
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